Shaun White's rough Olympics night draws big ratings

By By Ryan Faughnder

Feb 12, 2014 | 9:38 AM

U.S. snowboarder Shaun White proved to be a powerful draw for Olympics viewers, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen.

White's unsuccessful bid for another men's halfpipe medal helped draw an average of 23.6 million viewers to NBC's prime-time sports coverage Monday night, up 16% from the comparable night of the 2010 Vancouver games.

The Olympics, which also prominently featured pairs short-form figure skating, garnered a rating of 6.6 among advertiser-coveted 18-49-year-old viewers -- a 20% boost from 2010. In the 18-49 demographic, a ratings point equals roughly 1.3 million viewers.

White was aiming for a third consecutive gold medal in the event, but came in fourth place.

Next in the demo was Fox's comedy lineup, which averaged a 1.2 in 18-49 and 2.77 million viewers overall.

All of Fox's telecasts were hampered by the Olympics, starting with back-to-back episodes of "Dads," the first of which fell 20% from last week to a 1.2 before airing its season finale, which was lower.

The "Dads" season closer registered a 1.0 in a demo (a low for the freshman series) and 2.5 million viewers in total. "New Girl" fell 19% week-to-week to a 1.3 and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" dropped 14% to a 1.2.

CBS showed only reruns, as did ABC, with the exception of the low-rated "Killer Women" (3 million viewers; 0.7 rating in 18-49).